This invention relates to semiconductor integrated circuit testers, and particularly to a personal tester for laboratory use.
The semiconductor integrated circuit tester that is sold by Credence Systems Corporation under the designation Personal Kalos is designed for personal use by a technician or engineer in a laboratory rather than for production use in a manufacturing facility. The Personal Kalos tester includes pin electronics implemented on a main circuit board mounted in a generally parallelepipedal housing. The main circuit board has a tester interface that is exposed at one main face of the housing and includes several tester interface pin headers. A load board, which serves as a spatial transformer between the tester interface pin headers and a DUT socket for receiving a device under test (DUT), has receptacles that engage the tester interface pin headers.
The Personal Kalos tester may be positioned on or adjacent to the user""s work bench, and when the user wishes to test a device of a particular type he selects the appropriate load board, engages the receptacles of the load board with the tester interface pin headers of the Personal Kalos tester, and installs the DUT in the DUT socket of the load board. When the user wishes to test a device of a different type, it will generally be necessary for him to remove the current load board and engage the load board for the new type of device with the tester interface.
When the user removes a load board from engagement with the tester interface or engages a new load board with the tester interface, he may inadvertently tilt the load board. Tilting of the load board may result in the pins of the load board receptacles or the pins of the tester interface pin headers being bent or otherwise damaged.
It has been found that it is generally more convenient for the user of the Personal Kalos tester to engage a load board with the tester interface by downward vertical movement of the load board relative to the tester housing. It is easier to maintain the orientation of the load board relative to the tester interface, and avoid tilting of the load board, during downward vertical movement of the load board than during movement along a non-vertical, e.g. horizontal axis. The dimensions of the tester housing of the Personal Kalos tester are such that it is easy to position the tester interface in a horizontal orientation when the tester is placed beside the user""s work bench, but if the tester is placed on the user""s work bench it can be awkward to position the tester interface in a horizontal orientation.
In accordance with a first aspect of the invention there is provided a semiconductor integrated circuit tester including a housing having a tester interface area, a guide structure in the housing and defining an engagement axis that intersects the tester interface area, a circuit board structure fitted in the guide structure in a manner allowing movement of the circuit board structure relative to the housing along the engagement axis, the circuit board structure having a tester interface that is exposed exteriorly of the housing at the tester interface area, a drive means for urging the circuit board structure to move relative to the housing along the engagement axis, and an attachment mechanism for releasably engaging a test board having a test board interface and securing the test board against movement along the engagement axis in a direction away from the tester interface area, whereby, when the test board is secured to the housing by the attachment mechanism and the tester interface is not engaged with the test board interface, the drive means may be operated to urge the circuit board structure to move along the engagement axis in said direction to force the tester interface into engagement with the test board interface.
In accordance with a second aspect of the invention there is provided a semiconductor integrated circuit tester including a housing having a tester interface area, a guide structure in the housing and defining an engagement axis that intersects the tester interface area, a circuit board structure fitted in the guide structure in a manner allowing movement of the circuit board structure relative to the housing along the engagement axis, the circuit board structure having a tester interface that is exposed exteriorly of the housing at the tester interface area, a drive means for urging the circuit board structure to move relative to the housing along the engagement axis, a test board having a test board interface for engaging the tester interface, and an attachment mechanism for releasably engaging the test board and securing the test board against movement along the engagement axis in a direction away from the tester interface area, the attachment mechanism including first and second complementary attachment elements secured to the tester housing and the test board respectively, whereby, when the test board is secured to the housing by the attachment mechanism and the tester interface is not engaged with the test board interface, the drive means may be operated to urge the circuit board structure to move along the engagement axis in said direction to force the tester interface into engagement with the test board interface.